Info:The Autodromo Nazionale Monza is a race track located near the town of Monza, north of Milan, in Italy. The circuit's biggest event is the Formula One Italian Grand Prix, which has been hosted there since the sport's inception.[4]

Built in the Royal Villa of Monza park in a woodland setting,[5] the site has three tracks – the 5.793 kilometres (3.600 mi) Grand Prix track,[2] the 2.405 kilometres (1.494 mi) Junior track,[3] and a decaying 4.250 kilometres (2.641 mi) high speed track with steep bankings.[4] Major features of the main track include the Curva di Lesmo, the Curva Parabolica, and the Variante Ascari. The high speed curve, Curva Grande, is located after a slow corner, but usually taken flat out by Grand Prix cars.

Drivers are on full throttle for most of the lap due to its long straights and fast corners, and is usually the scenario in which the open-wheeled F1 cars show the raw speed they are capable of (372 kilometres per hour (231 mph) during the V10 engined formula). The circuit is generally flat, but has a gradual gradient from the second Lesmos to the Variante Ascari. Due to the low aerodynamic profile needed, with its resulting low downforce,[6] the grip is very low; understeer is a more serious issues than at other circuits, however, the opposite effect, oversteer, is also present in the second sector, requiring the use of a very distinctive opposite lock technique. Since both maximum power, and minimal drag is the key for speed on the straights, only competitors with enough power at their disposal are able to challenge for the top places.[6](wikipedia.org)

Michael Schumacher holds the record for victories by a driver, with 91. Ferrari's Fernando Alonso has the second most among current drivers (27) and is level with Britain's Jackie Stewart in equal fifth place in the all-time lists.

Approximately 75% of the 5.793km Autodromo di Monza is spent at full throttle. That equates to 4.345km spent at close to max rpm.Monza has the highest wide open throttle time of the year ; Spa-Francorchamps, the next highest, is around 70%.In the earlier part of the season engines would typically be used for consecutive races, but since Spa and Monza are the toughest circuits of the year for the engines, fresh units are used at both races.

The engine internals are put under huge stress round the lap as they are used to their maximum. As a result Monza is THE reference for the Renault Sport F1 endurance tests on the dyno at Viry-Châtillon. The engines are run on the dynos for as much as eight hours to tweak the engine maps to get the maximum performance for the engine.

Being the hardest circuit of the season for the engine, all engine parts, maps and KERS usage, fuel and lubricants and so on, have to be carefully checked on the dyno to be 100% sure of reliability. The test engine could run as much as 3,000km (ten times the race distance) to check engine reliability and performance.

Dependant on the aerodynamic package used, top speed round Monza is around 330kph. In 2010 the highest speed from the R30 peaked at 333kph with the engine running at near maximum revs, 17,900rpm from a maximum of 18,000rpm.

Driveability into and out of the chicanes is key to a good lap time – even though a high percentage of the lap is spent on the throttle, lots of time can be won or lost in the chicanes so you need the engine to pick up quickly when you brake down.

RedSamWinner: Not the Nickv Comment of the Year 2009Due to the voting system in Germany, Governments are always made up of coalitions of different parties. At the last election, an almost unprecidented result saw the CDU/CSU (rough equivilant of the Conservatives) go into Government with the SPD (rough equivilant of Labour)

Red Bull look surprisingly strong in Practice.... Ferrari should be closer than they are.

RedSamWinner: Not the Nickv Comment of the Year 2009Due to the voting system in Germany, Governments are always made up of coalitions of different parties. At the last election, an almost unprecidented result saw the CDU/CSU (rough equivilant of the Conservatives) go into Government with the SPD (rough equivilant of Labour)

Yeah, Red Bull's pace was extremely good at the end of FP2 on the long runs on option tyres. Of course we don't know the fuel loads, but they seem to have a big amount of time over Ferrari and McLaren.

I think qualifying should be very close, as Rosberg and Schumacher could get in there as well as the other Top 6.

For once I think it's purely down to grunt, and I just can't see the Renault having enough of it. Despite the speed Button showed last year with his barn door, I just can't see the Red Bull being strong enough in a straight line, and I don't think their downforce will be enough to save them. If ever there is a track which plays to the strengths of the opposition and not to their own it's Monza.

They'll be up there no doubt, but to me neither McLaren driver didn't look to be on top of the car yet and I think there's more to come from it.

It should be McLaren's race to lose, with Ferrari(or Alonso at least) there to pick up any pieces. Past form suggests RedBull will be slower than those two, but they've been strong even on their traditional bogey tracks this year, and wherever they end up at the end of FP3, expect Vettel to suddenly find an extra half second over that in Q3.It could be a fascinating mix at the front.

Considering tyre wear seems quite low, Ferrari might escape their slow medium tyre pace, as they may only use the harder tyre for a couple of laps at the end.

I think that because the aerodynamics of the Red Bull are so inherently good, they'll be able to run less wing than the others which could be a potentially big advantage. Because there's DRS in qualifying, and these days they have to run on full fuel tanks, I think that downforce is relatively quite important for this track.

Ferrari's lack of downforce relative to Button's barn door last year didn't show up in tyre wear. If anything it was the other way around - Button went slower as the stint wore on, while the Ferrari's (well, Alonso) got faster relative to Button.

gav Wrote:-------------------------------------------------------> If there's anything you can't accuse Red Bull of> it's inefficiencies. >> For once I think it's purely down to grunt, and I> just can't see the Renault having enough of it.> Despite the speed Button showed last year with his> barn door, I just can't see the Red Bull being> strong enough in a straight line, and I don't> think their downforce will be enough to save them.> If ever there is a track which plays to the> strengths of the opposition and not to their own> it's Monza.>> They'll be up there no doubt, but to me neither> McLaren driver didn't look to be on top of the car> yet and I think there's more to come from it.

I think ive always been of the opinion that straight line speed is over rated these days. If your car is mechanically good enough you should competitive.

The Renault is known to have generally favourable low speed characteristics. I've always believed Monza is alot about how well you can exit the corners because that is the largest part of time loss and gain. Braking and traction rule over straight line speed here IMO. Maybe not with the v10's where there was a bigger power difference, but certainly in the period of engine equalisation and v8's.

We know these are areas where Mclaren have been strong if not strongest. Whilst we know RedBull have not always had a car mechanically able to drive the track as well as Mclaren.

It's no lie that the Mercedes has a good amount of grunt but the differences are minimal at top end and are more so effected by the car's aero setup. RedBull have gradually improved in the areas they have not been strong with. in 2009 and 2010 there were tracks that were simply not suited to the RedBull. The trend from 2009 followed into 2010 but much less difference. This year at least Vettel has been quick everywhere yet tracks they dominated at in 2010 (Hungary) they did not have the same advantage. Of course the change in regulations make direct comparisons impossible, but there is no doubt RedBull have been polishing up their car over the years. It's almost perfect now. No reliability issues and quick at every track.

Renault's straight line speed in both the RBR and works car have by no means been slow through this year and I guess any apparent differences with engine power has been negated and largely effected by flap design for DRS. Then we have Barcelona. A mercedes powered car with DRS could still not pass Vettel. RedBull have just signed 5 year's more for use of Renault engines. Power is not an issue.

Vettel on pole on Saturday should not be a shock to anyone. The engine is good enough, has always been good enough but now the car is also good enough IMO.

edit - And surely Button's race last year shows top end speed is no longer king at Monza. He had the f-duct and a rather large wing, but he was racing an f-duct equipped Ferrari with more baseline straightline speed. They both had the f-duct, obviously Button had more drag to shed but even still the top end speed difference was visible, but in terms of overall lap time and for race circumstances there was little difference.

Quotechet
RedBull have just signed 5 year's more for use of Renault engines. Power is not an issue.

I won't respond to the rest of your post as it's all rather obvious, but this caught my eye.

Of course Renault have their own strengths. Throughout the season, off the top of my head, outright power only really matters at Monza, through Eau Rouge and up the hill at Interlagos.

We've known for a 2 or 3 seasons now how efficient the Renault is with its fuel. We've known for another 3 or 4 years further how smoothly it delivers its power in the lower ranges. The quality of the engine over the season is unquestioned, but this is a one-off race.

The Red Bull Renault package may be more rounded this year, and that showed at Spa, but I still don't think they'll have enough at Monza unless McLaren and Ferrari mess up. Ferrari already look a distance behind, and even now it certainly looks as though their harder tyre performance will compromise their race. I think McLaren will have enough though.

We'll see on Sunday.

By the way, why the hell do you need twin DRS zones at Monza of all places? Here, one DRS zone is one too many.